NAME OF STATE
The Irish Constitution provides (Article 4) that the name of the
State is Éire, or in the English language, Ireland.
Normal practice is to restrict the use of the name Éire
to texts in the Irish language and to use Ireland in all
English language texts, with corresponding translations for texts
in other languages. The Republic of Ireland Act of 1948 provides
for the description of the State as the Republic of Ireland but
this provision has not changed the usage Ireland as the
name of the State in the English language.

The etymology of the name Éire is uncertain and various
theories have been advanced. There is no doubt, however, but that
it is of considerable antiquity. It first appears as (Ierne) in
Greek geographical writings which may be based on sources as
early as the fifth century B.C. In Ptolemy's Map (ca. l50 A.D.)
the name appears as (Iouernia); some such form was transliterated
into Latin as Iuverna. The standard Latin form, Hibernia,
first appears in the works of Caesar, who seems to have confused
it with the Latin word hibernus (wintry). Ériu, the Old
Irish form of Éire, was current in the earliest Irish
literature. The modern English word Ireland derives from
the Irish word Éire with the addition of the Germanic
word land. In Irish mythology, Eriu was one of three
divine eponyms for Ireland, together with Banba and Fódla. The
idea of Ireland as a heroine re-appears as a common motif in
later literature in both Irish and English.

FLAG
The national flag of Ireland is a tricolour of green, white and
orange. The tricolour is rectangular in shape, the width being
twice its depth. The three colours are of equal size, vertically
disposed, and the green is displayed next to the staff.

The flag was first introduced by Thomas Francis Meagher during
the revolutionary year of 1848 as an emblem of the Young Ireland
movement, and it was often seen at meetings alongside the French
tricolour

The green represents the older Gaelic and Anglo-Norman element in
the population, while the orange represents the Protestant
planter stock, supporters of William of Orange. The meaning of
the white was well expressed by Meagher when he introduced the
flag. 'The white in the centre,' he said, 'signifies a lasting
truce between the 'Orange' and the 'Green' and I trust that
beneath its folds the hands of the Irish Protestant and the Irish
Catholic may be clasped in heroic brotherhood.'

It was not until the Rising of 1916, when it was raised above the
General Post Office in Dublin, that the tricolour came to be
regarded as the national flag. It rapidly gained precedence over
any which had existed before it, and its use as a national flag
is enshrined in the Constitution of Ireland.

ARMS
The heraldic harp is invariably used by the government, its
agencies and its representatives at home and abroad. It is
engraved on the seal matrix of the of office of President as well
as on the reverse of the coinage of the state. It is also
emblazoned on the distinctive flag of the President of Ireland -
a gold harp with silver strings on an azure field.

The model for the artistic representation of the heraldic harp is
the fourteenth century harp now preserved in the Museum of
Trinity College, Dublin, popularly known as the Brian Boru harp.

NATIONAL ANTHEM
The text of The Soldier's Song (Amhrán na bhFiann),
consisting of three stanzas and a chorus, was written in 1907 by
Peadar Kearney, who together with Patrick Heeney also composed
the music. It was first published in the newspaper, Irish
Freedom in 1912. The chorus was formally adopted as the
National Anthem in 1926, displacing the earlier Fenian anthem, God
Save Ireland. A section of the National Anthem (consisting
of the first four bars followed by the last five) is also the
Presidential Salute.